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Welcome
to Papa's Corner! The eclectic column by Rex Stocklin!
Pictures, memorabillia, reviews, personal treasures, & rarities! All from the vast vault of Papa Frog All opinions are those of Papa Frog.
Click Here For Papa's Review of The David Pack Go Fish Show Click Here for the previous "Papa's Corner" Review of the Tin
Drum/Ambrosia Conejo Valley Days Show-May 2,1998 The day started out with dreary grey skies. I had to lobby like hell to my wife to keep the concert date that night. "Honey, it's only drizzle, you don't want folks to think you're chicken of water, huh?", "They have a covered amphitheater and plush seats", "The band is expecting me to introduce myself from the stage in hopes of recruiting more to the Ambrosia effort.", "we're gonna be given the Conejo key to the Valley!" (I pulled everything!) Well something worked because we ended up going (I never did ask her what she thought of it after we got there sans plush seats & the key and all, I just let it slide into the abyss of domestic scorekeeping. When we arrived, Dave, Joe, Chris, Ricky & Tollack were rehearsing. Rich was wondering the stage calling the shots. Dave said thru the PA "Hi, Rex, good to see you" or something like that. I knew I was where I belonged. Both Rich & Joe waved their cheery, warm greetings as we trundled up to the front row of folding chairs (they weren't plush, but hey, they weren't soaked sod either). Burleigh was not in sight (my guess he was shoring up the opening act somewhat ;-} ). The sound check that followed was, for me, the highlight of the evening. Nothing like watching your heroes unleashed to jam & ad lib through the immense repertoire at their command. I had missed the beginning of the check, so there's no telling what I didn't get to hear. But here's what I heard:
"Sweet Home Alabama" some Hendrix that I failed to identify some Eagles that I failed to identify "The Battle of New Orleans" (the oft covered Jimmie Driftwood classic)ya know, "They ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles And they ran through the bushes where the rabbits couldn't go. They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico." On this, there seemed to be some confusion whether it was briars or bushes, well boys it was BOTH!
Then David went into a great rendition of Paul Simon's "You Can Call me Al" accentuated nicely by Ricky Cosentino's (the new guy) rhythmic touches, which he sang for about 7 minutes then segued into a Belafontesque West Indian-style scat. Wow!!!! Somewhere in the middle of the check, Burleigh appeared, so the whole gang was percolating on some great non-Ambrosia stuff. Also, at some point during the sound check, Bruce "Cabs" Vogel walked up & introduced himself to me. We then sat next to each other most of the magical night. I just wish more Travellers could have been there. We could have created a massive cheering section and yelled all kinds of foolish & embarrassing things up to the stage.
"Kodachrome" Then a lull ensued as Tin Drum set up the stage. When they hit the stage, I noticed that Burleigh was seated at another drumkit situated just below the Ambrosia kit. I wonder were they for a different sound? It was a nice blend of older Tin Drum tunes from their debut CD "Real World" and new material hopefully all of which is slated for the follow-up CD. As good as the first CD was, the new songs show that no sophomore jinx is gonna happen with them. These new songs show a great deal of sophistication and growth in songwriting. I wish I had words that could accurately paint the picture. But, trust me, their new CD (whenever it comes out) will be stunning. Mary Harris (Mrs. Burleigh) has a really nice voice, as good or better than any of the chockablock Lillith Fair types that are so in vogue now. Chuck Girard has often told me how much Mary sounds like his current fave singer, Jane Siberry. I, though not much of a fan of Siberry, liken Mary's voice both stylistically and sonically to Deborah Holland (ex-Animal Logic with Stanley Clarke & Stewart Copeland.). Now, if you knew what a thing I have for her, you'd know that this is a favorable comparison. In fact with Mary spelling Deborah and Burleigh doing likewise to Stewart, Tin Drum comes off like a CCM version of Animal Logic. But Tin Drum was plagued with a poor sound mix all night. Tin Drum's sound was muddy and weak in the midrange with an even muddier bottom end dominating. All this plagued a valiant effort by the performers. I thought Mary's vocals, as good as they were were not powerful enough to carry the instrumentation. I figured it was the mix and not her, because I've heard her on the CD and she seems to have the lungs behind her vocal stylings. Maybe the sound crew focused all of their time in taking care of Ambrosia & had no time to square up Drum's acoustic envelope. It was a real shame, because Burleigh, Mary, etal. played their hearts out. The sound was tough to eq, since this was an outdoor affair not in a facility built for sonics. Ambrosia didn't have real great sound either (I said the band was on their game, but not the sound crew).
But given the conditions, maybe it's unfair to expect anything more out of the sound crew. In hindsight, I don't think any crew or artist could have made this situation sound better. Its just that we all know how good Ambrosia can sound. But I was hoping for a perfect outing to showcase Drum's talent and Ma Nature didn't cooperate. To be fair, Cabs got up & walked around the venue (in the rain, a luxury, I couldn't afford) and found several musical sweet spots where it all came together for both bands. Thus I'm hoping that many of the fair-going faithful had a better aural vantage point than we. The stars were Burleigh with an assured tempo & rhythm that speaks to his totally professional experience. And....a new addition on guitar, one Larry Treadwell, of Thomas Dolby fame (he played on the Dolby CDs "Aliens Ate My Buick" a fave of mine already cited on many of my lists on the Travellers discussion list thru "Gate to the Mind's Eye"). Larry has also played for Ofra Haza, Lauren Wood, Cyndi Lauper & The Pope (yep, the actual Pope, folks!!!). Just as Mike Keneally blew me away at Joe's Sunken City show, Larry brought amazing texture and sonics to the band.
The set list for Tin Drum was: Lay Your Hands The band was at once loose and tight (emotionally, although they were tight musically, too) in front of their local neighborhood folks, but with Burleigh often quipping goofily (in particular his "rap" lines throughout "You Were Mine") from behind his perch, everyone was put at ease. I'm hoping to hear them again in a more acoustically agreeable setting, say in a pizza parlor. ;-} The set lasted not quite an hour and then they surrendered the stage for Ambrosia.
Ambrosia performed the shortest, but incredibly tightest show that I've seen them play. They opened with "Nice Nice, Very Nice" which was syncopated more than usual. And just as they did on their "180" tour stops in Chicago, they ping-ponged the "Nice, Nice"'s between the left & right aural field. Way cool dramatic punctuation of what I think has become Ambrosia's signature tune. Then came a pretty standard reading of "Mama Don't Understand", which misses Miss Colleen Ford a great deal.
Up next was "You're the Only Woman (You & I)", which I decided to avert my eyes from the stage and sing along with it while looking Suzanne right in the eyes. I wanted her to know how much I loved her & appreciated her sacrificing so much of her time to allow me to follow Ambrosia around the Southland Deadhead style, like a child in a candy store. In fact I joked with Cabs that we should call ourselves Frogheads, or at the very least Frogbrains (er...Frontbrains). My wife was quite moved by the song (her favorite women!, they aren't into the prog stuff, but do they ever dig the blue-eyed romance) and by my attention which is usually focused at the stage & backstage. Then came an unspectacular "Livin' on my Own", which is by itself pretty spectacular, so it needs no additional "massaging of the data". I am impressed with how Tollack can so easily nail Royce Jones' recorded solo vocal embellishments. But he'd be up against major competition from Sunken City's Eddie Callen both on voice and on harmonica. They must be clones (though not visually). "Time Waits for No One" was next, & it was the first time Suzanne could detect the percussive emulation of timepieces in the song. I think it is thematically the strongest Ambrosia song ever (Though I have other Ambrosia songs that I like better, they are hard pressed to match the strong connection and synergy of words and music.). And I dig how Chris emulates the bouzoukis with his synths. "Hopes & Dreams" was next, and if you haven't heard it, I believe the Boyettes have the sound file up on their multimedia page, if I recall correctly, it is a splendid blending of Pack/Puerta harmonies with Tollack guesting on acoustic guitar. You see, one of the reasons I like this band so much is their versatility. I'd love to see Burleigh break out the bassoon once in a while, though.
Ricky added a nifty new percussion intro to my least favorite Ambrosia song, "How Much I Feel" and it helped make it not nearly as boring. But the song was also fraught with sonic problems such as feedback & droning in the bottom end. Hey, I'm neither jaded nor starry-eyed, I just tell it like I see it or hear it. The most fun "Angola" in years followed. The band dropped the once-fun but tired audience participation bit in favor of a bouncier arrangement. Two young blonde tots were coaxed on-stage by Dave (I presume his children?) and they cavorted to the song with glee. Add in the mix Chris' guttural tribalisms and an oddly tasty flourish of congas and other percussive by Ricky. I say oddly because the song IS about third-world Africa and throwing Latin percussive touches changes the feel for the song. The effect of the resultant rhythm section was very Zappa cum Traffic a la "Welcome to the Canteen". But it was all in good, inspired fun! People came up to the clearing before the stage and started dancing in the on-again-off-again rain. If I could dance, I would've gotten up & frolicked myself. Moved by the crowd's glee, David sent the band into a quick shot of "No Big Deal" followed by the impromptu playing of "Oh Baby (We Got a Good Thing Goin')", the Rolling Stones' cover of the rockabilly tune written by Texan bluestress Barbara Lynn. Listening to this & recalling the great sound check tunes, made me wonder, what would happen if Ambrosia devoted a fair chunk of its show to covers. I think it would be a cool move. Long-time ardent Ambrosia fans would love to see them do something else and others would not know the band's material (other than the radio cuts) enough to care. I think it would be a great stylistic experiment. But, maybe the concept of being a glorified cover band is not all that thrilling to the artists on stage. I could appreciate that feeling. It's just that they are so damn good that they could make "Mmmm Bop" sound terrific. I draw the line at "Feelings" though. No one could do that song justice. Joe took time to acknowledge Cabs as the person who travelled the furthest to see the show. And he also dedicated the next song to yours truly & the Internet gang. I was in tears. Here the band I've practically worshipped all my life was paying tribute to my efforts with our silly little list. Then the band went into yet another variant on the slow bluesy arrangement of "Life Beyond L.A.". This is my single favorite tune that they do in their sets these days. And to have it played in our honor made it oh so much more special. I think for the uninitiated travellers out here in cyberland the next tune that should go up on Ambrosia's Encounters page is this concert variant. It seems to have drawn inspiration from all the unplugged performances of late, most notably Eric Clapton's "Layla." The show ended with "Holdin' On To Yesterday" and the obligatory encore of "Biggest Part of Me". But by then it was all very anticlimactic. Only a rousing "Drink of Water" could have gotten my attention piqued. ;-} That good-natured rib is for you, Joe. I love you, man & I know you tried, but will I ever get to hear it? Oh, one reason the show was so truncated at only one encore song was partially due to the crowd swimming for the exits in the face of even more precip. But mainly it was due to an equipment problem. It seems that Chris' B3 uses a generator...well, allow me to use Joe's words to 'splain wha' happened: "Sorry about the problems with sound and pitch. The organ was going up and down in pitch because of the power source being unstable (the diesel that gave power to the stage was not set at a fixed voltage which wreaks havoc on the engine of the B-3. The rain made it more of a party than a concert. Hopefully we will have a chance to redeem ourselves." Well, Joe, allow me to say that no apologies are necessary. First, and I don't know if it's because we as the audience did not have the benefit of monitors, but I did not notice the problem. Secondly, even if I had, it is not the technical excellence that makes a great concert, but the heart & work ethic that goes into it. While it was a short show, I wouldn't have missed it for all of the beef in Texas.
After the show Cabs & I took Suzanne backstage with us to hobnob. All of them were awash in handlers, family & friends. But each was gracious enough to take time to talk & pose with us. David pointed out that legendary stringmeister & arranger Jimmie Haskell (Henry Mancini, Buddy Emmons, Chet Atkins, Engelbert Humperdinck, Dwight Twilley, Rick Nelson, Cashman & West, John Denver, Steve Douglas, Glen Campbell, Harry James, Three Dog Night, Steely Dan, Tommy Roe, Bobby Darin, Austin Roberts, Rod McKuen, Nicolette Larson, Laura Nyro, Brian Hyland, Simon & Garfunkel, John Stewart, Billy Joel, B.B. King, Batdorf & Rodney, Dan Fogelberg, Tina Turner, Rick Springfield, Linda Ronstadt, Bette Midler, Donny Osmond, Barry Manilow, The Moody Blues, Etta James, Gladys Knight, David Lee Roth, Belinda Carlisle, Wayne Newton, Pat Boone, Damn Yankees, Jose Feliciano, John Denver, The Grass Roots, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Dillards, Clarence Carter, The Everly Brothers, Cher, The Drifters, Neil Diamond, Slim Whitman, Frankie Lane, Yvonne Elliman, k.d. Lang, Elvis Presley, The Bangles, Dusty Springfield, Grand Funk Railroad, Livingston Taylor, Woody Guthrie, Pure Prairie League, Sneaker, T. Rex, The Four Tops, The Bee Gees, B.W. Stevenson, The Lettermen, Poco, The Babys, The Doobie Brothers, Exile, Kenny Rankin and many movie soundtracks...oh, and Ambrosia's "Feeling Alive Again" & "How Much I Feel") was backstage. I found Cosentino to be a warm & personable addition to an already warm & personable bunch. Joe in particular regaled us with tales of his Dad & family. I cannot overstate what a class act he is. I sought out everyone for a snapshot with me (only missed getting one with Tollack who is a babe magnet and understandably tough to pry away from the gals.) and they all obliged, except for the shy North.
But Pat Boyette took a photo of us together at Joe's show and I have that (Thanx, Pat). Then while we were fixin' to leave Chris came up saying he'd better pose with me for a picture. I said that he'd missed the window of opportunity (Suzanne had wondered off with our 35mm SLR). He freaked saying something like "Oh no, now I'm gonna get dissed in Rex's column." I'm here to tell you Chris, if you're reading this. You've been nothing but a gentleman to me & have not done anything dissable. So There! There I was a crippled 42-yr-old fat, balding man reveling in the midst of rock'n'roll. I was (& still am) stoked. Nice Nice, Very Nice encore Papagettingrevvedforlasvegasandmaybeatlonglastadrinkofh2owellitwillbehotinjulyyouknow!
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